Preface Acknowledgments 1. Introduction 2. Why Proximity Is Good 3. Cars, Pollution, and Accidents 4. Congestion 5. Mass Transit 6. Land 7. Too Many Cars? Too Much Lawn? Too Much Blight? 8. Rules 9. Water, Sewers, Fire, and Garbage 10. Education 11. Race and Space 12. Race and Policy 13. Housing: The Big Picture 14. Housing and Poor People 15. Homelessness 16. Crime 17. Drugs, Guns, and Alcohol 18. Urban Economic Development 19. Epilogue Glossary Index
This brilliant book, half textbook, half treatise, provides a magisterial overview of city economics that tempers an optimistic vision of the city's potential for advancing the human condition with a recognition of the constraints imposed by scarcity. In contrast to other urban economics textbooks, this book eschews unnecessary technique, draws widely from the other social sciences, and devotes considerable attention to urban social problems. And in contrast to other urbanist treatises, it stresses analytical reasoning and confronts squarely the difficult tradeoffs involved in almost all policy choices. Written in a conversational style, City Economics-which might be subtitled the very intelligent layman's guide to urban economics-demands concentration but the perseverant reader will be richly rewarded. -- Richard Arnott, Boston College City Economics is provocative, thoughtful, engaging, and challenging. O'Flaherty deals with broad and important themes in imaginative and straightforward ways, and this book will instruct and inspire students for a generation. -- Kenneth T. Jackson, Columbia University, and editor of The Encyclopedia of New York City City Economics is an engaging book for those who want to know how to make cities better for living, working, and playing. Students, scholars and public officials all can learn from this non-traditional though disciplined-based approach to urban economics. -- Susan Wachter, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Brendan O'Flaherty is Professor of Economics at Columbia University.
This brilliant book, half textbook, half treatise, provides a
magisterial overview of city economics that tempers an optimistic
vision of the city's potential for advancing the human condition
with a recognition of the constraints imposed by scarcity. In
contrast to other urban economics textbooks, this book eschews
unnecessary technique, draws widely from the other social sciences,
and devotes considerable attention to urban social problems. And in
contrast to other urbanist treatises, it stresses analytical
reasoning and confronts squarely the difficult tradeoffs involved
in almost all policy choices. Written in a conversational style,
City Economics—which might be subtitled the very intelligent
layman's guide to urban economics—demands concentration but the
perseverant reader will be richly rewarded.
*Richard Arnott, Boston College*
City Economics is provocative, thoughtful, engaging, and
challenging. O'Flaherty deals with broad and important themes in
imaginative and straightforward ways, and this book will instruct
and inspire students for a generation.
*Kenneth T. Jackson, Columbia University, and editor of The
Encyclopedia of New York City*
City Economics is an engaging book for those who want to know how
to make cities better for living, working, and playing. Students,
scholars and public officials all can learn from this
non-traditional though disciplined-based approach to urban
economics.
*Susan Wachter, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania*
This book is firmly located in urban economics, and it adopts a
deliberate and provocative approach to the usual subject headings
and methodological debates in this area. It will be attractive to
undergraduates in geography, economics, sociology and politics as
well as to taught masters in courses in public administration,
urban policy, public policy, transport and government. Students and
teachers will be attracted to its no-nonsense style and its focus
on recognisable subject areas...Each chapter is followed by
questions suitable for those wanting to check on their progress and
for teachers looking for succinct questions to put to students.
This approach works well; as a textbook, City Economics has much to
recommend it. Indeed, for many readers the text will be a welcome
relief from the esoteric world of Pareto optimality, comparative
advantage, externalities, consumer surplus and elasticities,
concepts that would normally dominate in this kind of book. Brendan
O'Flaherty's approach is more likely to reveal the importance and
relevance of these concepts and tools than the usual methodological
exposition...City Economics is challenging and fascinating.
*Times Higher Education Supplement*
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